Led by a dominating performance in the paint, the Lamar University women’s basketball team snapped its two-game losing streak with an 83-54 home win over Houston Baptist Saturday afternoon at the Montagne Center.
Forwards Micaela Wilson and Bebe Galloway each scored 24 points and recorded double-doubles as Lamar’s physicality proved too much for the visiting Huskies. With the majority of their attempts coming at the rim, the Cardinals shot 52% from the field and led from start to finish.
The win gave Lamar (6-11, 5-4) a season sweep over HBU. Cardinals coach Aqua Franklin said her team followed the gameplan perfectly.
“We wanted to pound the ball inside,” Franklin said. “The previous games we settled and let our opponents off the hook. What an unbelievable job Bebe did for a freshman, and then Micaela just continues to be very good for our program.”
Coming off back-to-back overtime losses, Lamar looked like a motivated team in the early minutes. The Cardinals led 17-8 after the first quarter and soon extended that advantage to double digits.
At the half, Lamar led 37-26. Franklin attributed the fast start to the Cardinals wanting to “redeem themselves” after the two close defeats.
“Those two losses left a bad taste in our mouth,” Franklin said. “There were several possessions that we would love to have back in those games, so we wanted to come out and play with no regrets today.”
Much like the first half, Lamar started the third quarter quickly to put the game away, outscoring the Huskies 28-13 in that period. During much of that span, either Galloway or Wilson was working in the paint to find offense. The Cardinals only attempted eight shots from beyond the arc in the game, making four of them.
The fourth quarter was more of a formality as Lamar closed out the victory. It keeps them in the thick of the Southland tournament race heading into the second half of the conference schedule.
Lamar was supposed to play McNeese this Monday, but the game was postponed because of inclement weather. It’s just the latest in a long string of schedule changes for the Cardinals this season. They’ll be back in action Wednesday at Sam Houston State.
“We can’t control the weather or games being postponed,” Franklin said. “We played really well today so we would have loved to get back out there Monday, but this allows us a little more rest to get ready for Sam Houston on Wednesday.”
LU men lose 4th straight
The Lamar University men’s basketball team cut a 16-point, second-half deficit down to one possession, but never quite got over the hump during an 80-75 road loss to Houston Baptist Saturday night at Sharp Gymnasium.
The Cardinals trailed by just one point at halftime before HBU started the second half with a 17-2 run. Lamar worked its way back into the game and eventually got within two points on a Kasen Harrison layup with 3:12 left to play.
However, Lamar would get no closer in what ended up being the Cardinals fourth consecutive loss. Sophomore guard Anderson Kopp led the team with 17 points.
Lamar (4-15, 2-8) will host Sam Houston State at the Montange Center on Wednesday.
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